Entertainment

On Wednesday, Sony Pictures unveiled the teaser to Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, the follow-up to the franchise-resurrecting 2021 film Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon, Logan Kim and Celeste O’Connor are back, along with stars from the original Ghostbusters films: franchise co-creator Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson.

The teaser, opening to Bananarama‘s “Cruel Summer,” shows New York City in the middle of a heat wave. As the residents try to beat the heat, a mysterious winter storm blows onto the beach, daggers of ice stab through the ground, and terrified people are frozen in their tracks.

The ice crawls through the streets and up the facade of an iconic former fire house in Lower Manhattan.

So, who ya gonna call?

“For the first time in New York history, people froze to death in the middle of July,” says series newcomer Patton Oswalt in voiceover.

“So what is it?” Grace’s Phoebe Spengler asks Aykroyd’s Dr. Ray Stanz. “The Death Chill,” he replies. “The power to kill by fear itself. Your veins turn into rivers of ice. Your bones crack. And the last thing you see is your own tear ducts freezing up.”

Rudd’s Gary Grooberson asks nervously, “Like literally being scared to death?”

Oswalt’s character giggles, “That’s SO cool!”

The teaser also shows the reveal of the big bad, a menacing specter with frozen blue eyes. The proton pack-strapped gang is watching, perched on a rooftop, and Rudd guffaws as if to copy Oswalt’s character’s sentiment.

The spring release, which also stars Kumail Nanjiani, was co-written and directed by Afterlife veteran Gil Kenan, and co-produced and co-written by that hit reboot’s director Jason Reitman, the son of the late Ghostbusters producer Ivan Reitman.

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Get in loser, we’re going to the movies.

The official trailer for Paramount Pictures’ Mean Girls has arrived, and it’s showing off the updated take on Tina Fey’s modern classic while paying homage to the original 2004 film.

Based on the 12-time Tony-nominated Broadway production, Mean Girls arrives in theaters on January 12. Reneé Rapp takes on the iconic character and head-Plastic Regina George, reprising the role for which she made her Broadway debut.

Fey penned the screenplay and produced the film, which was directed by Arturo Perez Jr. and Samantha Jayne.

Angourie Rice stars as Cady Heron, the new girl navigating life at North Shore High. The Summer I Turned Pretty heartthrob Christopher Briney plays Cady’s crush, Aaron Samuels, while Auli’i Cravalho is Regina’s ex-bestie and Cady’s new friend, Janice Ian.

Set to Olivia Rodrigo’s “get him back,” the trailer avoids spoiling the movie’s musical moments. There’s new additions to the story: the inclusion of TikTok, a makeup malfunction at Homecoming and fresh dialogue.

“You could be really hot, if you changed, like, everything,” Rapp’s Regina tells Rice’s Cady during her makeover.

It’s not all new, however. Fey and Tim Meadows will again play Ms. Norbury and Principal Duvall, reprising their roles from the 2004 version. Joining them among the adult cast are Jenna Fischer, Busy Philipps and Jon Hamm. 

Ashley Park, who originated the anxiety-ridden Gretchen Wieners in the 2018 Broadway production, will play North Shore High’s French teacher. Is this a subtle nod to her supporting role on Netflix’s Emily in Paris? Who can say? Nonetheless, how fetch.

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Some were surprised to find out that Emmy-winning Succession star Brian Cox‘s next project was the competition reality show 007: Road to a Million. As it turns out, Cox was one of those people.

On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon Tuesday night, the legendary character actor said he thought he was signing up for a Bond movie when he agreed to play the Amazon show’s mysterious Controller.

“I said, ‘They’re finally getting me in a James Bond movie,’ so I said, ‘Yes, of course!'” Cox said to laughs. Alas, “There was no script,” Cox explained. “And there was no James Bond movie.”

He added, “For years, I thought I’d love to be a James Bond villain. It would be really interesting. I thought, ‘This is my moment!'” he laughed. “But it wasn’t.”

That said, Cox noted the reality show is “really interesting,” adding it was “great fun” because he “likes bossing people around” and gets to do that as the Controller.

According to the streaming service, the mysterious character is the “mastermind behind the game,” who dictates where the contestants go and what they must do to find their questions after facing Bond-inspired challenges. A million British pounds, or $1.2 million, is on the line.

007: Road to a Million begins streaming November 10.

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With the holidays coming up fast, Andy Cohen is hoping he gets to toast the New Year with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on air.

While appearing at BravoCon, the Watch What Happens Live host told E! News he lobbied the network to reverse its ban on on-air drinking for this year’s New Year’s Eve Live broadcast from Times Square.

Famously, former CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht put a cork in it for the 2022 broadcast, after the longtime friends’ on-air antics — and those of former anchor Don Lemon, who hosted the post-midnight show — raised eyebrows.

With Licht out after a short tenure, Cohen hopes the bar will be open once again.

Cohen told E!, “I haven’t heard anything yet, but come on, they need to let us drink. It’s New Year’s Eve. That didn’t go well last year in terms of viewer happiness about us drinking. People really cared and I hope CNN gives the people what they want.”

He added of himself and Cooper, “Give the daddies some juice.”

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Fans who are mostly familiar with Hannah Waddingham‘s Emmy-winning work on Ted Lasso may have their jaws dropped by the brand-new trailer of her upcoming Apple TV+ special Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas.

In short, there’s no shame in the Game of Thrones‘ Shame Nun’s singing game: She slays. 

As proof, you can check out Hannah’s lively performance of “What Christmas Means to Me,” which just debuted as a single, and watch the trailer, which reveals Hannah will take the stage with Sam Ryder, Luke Evans, Leslie Odom Jr., Phil Dunster and more special guests.

The streaming service teases, “Recorded live at The Coliseum in London, one of London’s oldest and most beautiful theaters, the one-hour special will feature [the] Emmy Award winner … ringing in the season with musical performances of beloved Christmas classics.” 

Backed by an 18-piece band, Hannah also welcomes to the stage the English National Opera, the London Gay Men’s Chorus, and The Fabulous Lounge Swingers. “Along the way, Hannah shares her personal journey to this magical moment with anecdotes and memories about her own holiday experiences,” Apple continues.

Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas debuts November 22.

The live soundtrack featuring every musical highlight from the special is available for pre-save, and will be available on all music streaming platforms via Platoon on that same day. 

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Following the death of cast member Matthew Perry, Friends has shot to the top of the charts on streaming services in the U.S., according to data from JustWatch quoted by Variety. Perry died at his Los Angeles home on October 28, and for the week of October 30 through November 5, the show that runs on Max was the number one show among American viewers. Each season of Friends on Max now begins with a title card in his honor…

The Legend of Zelda is getting the big screen treatment with Sony and Nintendo teaming up for a live-action feature of the videogame franchise, Deadline reports. The film will be directed by The Maze Runner filmmaker Wes Ball and written by Derek Connolly, the latter of whom worked on Jurassic World. Zelda was introduced to the world in 1986 and follows Princess Zelda and warrior Link as they fight to save their land from a demon king…

The Circus, Showtime’s weekly politics show, will end after eight seasons, according to Deadline. The series, which starred Mark McKinnon, Jennifer Palmieri and John Heilemann, will wrap up on Sunday, October 12, on both Showtime and Showtime on Paramount+. The final episode will be the 130th for the show…

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It’s official! Patrick Dempsey is People‘s Sexiest Man Alive 2023. 

The announcement was made Tuesday, November 7 on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with a game that saw Dempsey, with a disguised face and voice, take questions from the audience to help them guess his identity. 

The first set of questions ruled out Harry Styles, Timothée Chalamet, and Travis Kelce as options and revealed Dempsey as a married actor who is older than 50.

Kimmel’s hint that the then-unidentified “sexiest man alive” was the “star of one of the most popular television series of all time,” got the audience on the right track before a final hint that “he played a doctor on television” sealed the deal. 

“Are you Dr. McDreamy?” one audience member asked, to which Dempsey responded “Yes.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, the doctor is in the house,” Kimmel announced. “Patrick Dempsey is the Sexiest Man Alive!”

During their sit-down chat, Dempsey shared that his family’s reaction to the news was laughter, and resulted in them asking, “No, seriously, who is it?”

The duo also chatted about the Grey’s Anatomy star’s love of racing cars, opening the Dempsey Center, which holistically treats those impacted by cancer, his twin boys who are learning to drive, and his upcoming movie Ferrari, due out on Christmas Day.

“It’s my favorite movie I’ve ever been a part of,” Dempsey said. “I think it’s absolutely beautiful. There’s a lot of humanity it in. The dynamic, the human dynamic with [Enzo]Ferrari and his relationships with his wife, his lover, and the racing community and his journey to kind of realize his dream at all costs.”

People‘s Sexiest Man Alive issue hits stands on Friday, November 10. 

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The last post Matthew Perry made from Instagram closed with the actor saying, “I’m Mattman,” a phrase the lifelong Batman fanboy had used in the past.

But according to director Adam McKay, it wasn’t just a play on words. It was also the title of a project Perry had pitched to McKay while filming 2021’s Don’t Look Up.

The Talladega Nights director revealed to The Hollywood Reporter why he cast Perry in the environmental comedy in a part that was eventually cut. “[We] were also hoping that doing the movie could be a little toehold to … hopefully remind him how good he was,” the filmmaker recalled.

When he met Perry, McKay explained, “He was great. He described how he had had some sort of major surgery … and almost had died.” McKay added, “He was back, and I was super excited to do the movie with him.”

However, McKay said when Perry arrived on set, “His energy was low. He looked not healthy.”

The filmmaker also explained Perry pitched him a project called Mattman and quoted the star as saying, “It’s about this guy … His name is Matt and he’s very famous and about 50 years old. His life is a little bit of a mess. He’s lost. Out of the blue a distant relative dies and leaves him $2 billion — and he uses [it] to become a superhero.”

McKay said he tried to get Perry excited about a more autobiographical-style project instead, but Perry, who struggled with addiction for years, wasn’t interested.

After Perry was wrapped on the film, he took a private plane to what turned out to be another stint in rehab.

“I actually didn’t know that Switzerland was rehab,” said McKay. “I thought it was like a health cleanse or something. Call me naive.”

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Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, the first installment of director Zack Snyder‘s two-part, Netflix-bound sci-fi epic, is headed to theaters.

The movie, about the freedom fighters who take on a totalitarian empire’s invasion of a backwater moon, stars Kingsman‘s Sofia Boutella, Deadpool‘s Ed Skrein, Guardians of the Galaxy‘s Djimon Hounsou and The Princess Bride‘s Cary Elwes.

ABC Audio has confirmed the movie will have a weeklong, 70mm run at Los Angeles’ renovated Egyptian Theatre, the Paris Theater in New York City, London’s Prince Charles Cinema and Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox venue from December 15 to December 21.

The movie comes to Netflix the following day.

Snyder originally intended for the project to be a stand-alone Seven Samurai-style Star Wars film, but when that opportunity with Lucasfilm fizzled out, he expanded the story and brought it to the streaming service, which is home to his Army of the Dead projects.

The director behind possibly one of the best-known director’s cuts of all time, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, now has multiple cuts of Rebel Moon planned for Netflix.

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On Tuesday, Prime Video released the trailer to the second season of its hit action drama Reacher.

Hulking Alan Ritchson is back as author Lee Child‘s bruising former military investigator, and the trailer kicks things off with a bang: Reacher spots a woman nervously withdrawing money at an ATM and quickly realizes she’s being forced to do so by a carjacker.

The guy who says he “prefers not getting involved” responds by calmly walking to her vehicle, punching out the window and stomping the pistol-packing carjacker.

Season 2 has Reacher’s former military team members being hunted, apparently by a shady military contractor played by Terminator 2 and 1923‘s Robert Patrick.

If you tuned into season 1, you know that was a big mistake.

“They’re coming after us,” an ally warns him. “Good,” Reacher says defiantly.

The jacked hero works his way up the chain in bone-crunching fashion in the trailer, braining one dude with a cinderblock and drowning another in wet cement.

“Damn, Reacher: When we were kids, we just wrote our names in it,” says Dixon, one of his team members, played by Serinda Swan.

Based on Bad Luck and Trouble, the 11th book in Child’s bestselling book series, Reacher season 2 debuts December 15 on Prime Video.

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